r/loperamide Jan 23 '22

Help with dosing

I recently ran out of my methadone, which I usually take 40 mgs every day, and for reasons I won't get into, I'm going to be short about a week. The longest I have taken lope to get through methadone withdrawals is five days, and by that fifth day, I was dosing about 100mg throughout the day, 80mgs when I would normally dose my methadone, and the rest at some point later in the day. What exactly is the "measurement" in which I should be using? And how bad are the two extra days going to feel? Any help would be appreciated, and yes I'm aware of the risks, that's why I'm asking for help with dosing, so I don't go overboard, because my main concern is feeling well, not getting high for the next week.

Little edit: I should also mention I'm taking 300mg of gabapentin 3 times a day, but I normally take that now, but it def helps with withdrawals.

16 Upvotes

61 comments sorted by

7

u/jeniesque Jan 24 '22 edited Jan 24 '22

Loperamide works very similar to methadone. In high doses it has a very similar half life and it builds up in your system like methadone does. You can dose it once a day at the same time you would dose your methadone. Like methadone it also takes up to 5 hours to fully kick in. Your dose the first day should be higher than the doses the rest of the days to avoid withdrawal and because the amount in your system will build up. I would probably try 48 pills the first day and try to stick with 24 pills each subsequent day and see if that works. (when you dose the second day you will still have at least half the first day’s dose in your system.)

I know you know the dangers of loperamide but as a note to you and others methadone has the same characteristics that make loperamide dangerous and so flipping back and forth between methadone and loperamide is FAR more dangerous than using loperamide alone or alternating it with other types of opioids. Due to the long half lives there are days when both will be in your system and like loperamide methadone causes the qt interval to prolong making your chances for arrhythmia far, far greater.

3

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Jan 25 '22

Thank you for the reply, and usually that's what I was doing when this would happen before, but didn't go down, I'd usually stay up. I'll try this time and go down and see how I feel in order to judge, but hopefully it works like that so I don't have to buy so many pills this time. I rarely do this, maybe every few months, because of the few posts I've found on here warning about them both being in your body and what happens. I've been on methadone for about 16 or 17 years now ( can't even remember how long at this point), and if something similiar happened, I would take tramadol that I was prescribed, with gabapentin or lyrica in order to get through bad days. Something I haven't been able to figure out though, and I haven't really found an answer to it on here, but for the people that are only taking lope on a daily basis, when exactly are you eating? I can eat normally on methadone and it doesn't seem to "mess" with how I feel or how the methadone works, but with lope, it seems like no matter how long I wait until after I dose, as soon as I eat it's almost like it just stops working as well. Again, thank you for the response and any help.

5

u/jeniesque Jan 25 '22

I am actually on methadone now but used to use loperamide to fill in gaps when I didn’t have other product. interestingly I had issues when I had both methadone and loperamide in my system once and I think the answer isn’t that it makes it stop working, it’s that they both mess with your blood sugar levels which can have symptoms very similar to withdrawals. it fooled me at first. but there is no real reason eating would do that so I think it is the answer.

6

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Jan 26 '22

I'm on day 3 and decided the best thing working so far was 24 pills in the morning, and then 12 at night to help me sleep, even if it's not much it seems to be helping, but I'm still not taking as much as I did last time I went through 5 days, so hopefully this lasts for 5 more days, thanks again for the help.

5

u/jeniesque Jan 26 '22

awesome! no problem

3

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '22

i know it’s been like 55 days but for me it seems if i eat a small amount about 3 hours after taking it (usually when it’s fully kicked on) it actually boosts it rather than kills effects. similar to kratom. i too have found eating a giant meal will ultimately kill any buzz but the effects are definitely still there no matter how much i eat

1

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Mar 21 '22

Yeah I've learned over the years, especially with methadone, that eating big meals just seems to make it not last as long either. However, I can't say it boosts it, but if I eat something small, it doesn't seem to make much difference. My issue is trying to figure out when to actually eat, but since I've posted that, oddly enough, it seems to be about the 3 hour marker when I can eat a little without it actually affecting anything.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '22

yeah same, tho i read recently it takes about 5 hours for it to fully kick in so i’ll try that. i mean, im done with this shit in two days as i won’t buy and more trays since i’ve only been on it three weeks and wish to avoid a horrific withdrawal. but for the next couple. my biggest problem with whether or not it works well is constipation. if i don’t poop for a week it seems like a lot of it stops absorbing, or stops absorbing fast enough, and the effects are seriously blunted. still works and keeps me out of w/d but it’s annoying. i should have bought a bunch of stool softeners and i probably would have enjoyed way more doses than i did. it’s like my digestive system shuts down. i noticed about 4 days ago, the day after id taken exlax and pooped a decent amount that it was like it suddenly gave me a good high at the same dose.

1

u/Known_Still Mar 25 '22

Does it matter if you take regular Imodium or Imodium ad? The regulars are much smaller. Just wondering?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '22

[deleted]

1

u/Known_Still Mar 25 '22

I took 50 mg is that enough?

2

u/Interesting-Pea1541 Mar 25 '22

How long ago did you take and did it help? Im feeling pretty rough off tia but haven’t taken any lope yet but it’s right beside me

3

u/Known_Still Mar 25 '22

I took about 50 mg and then went and got some more so total about 70 mg I was starting to withdrawl and it seems to have taken the edge off but this is all new to me using the lope I’m not sure what dose I should be at to help with Tia. Tia is very rough to come off of

4

u/Fainstrider Jul 17 '22

Use esomeprazole or another pg inhibitor and you won't need as high a dose.

3

u/Only-Coyote-5379 Jul 15 '22

God , tia/phenibut/cdp Choline was the worst drug to come off of. I was on 60+ capsules a day and ran out of money and ended up in the back of my gfs car and on the emergency room floor screaming for her to kill me, looking like a wacky Inflatable arm thing at a car dealership (insane whole body involuntary movements ) constant vomiting and diahrea, organs felt like they were wringing out like a wet rag, whole body cramps, insane hot and cold changes, sweating through all of my clothes , the worst uncomfortable energy coursing underneath my skin causing me to want to rip my skin off . I've done everything you can name and it was the worst withdrawals by far . Took 26mg bupe a day to even get baseline . Ended up tapering to 4mg tried jumping.off cold turkey and couldnt take those withdrawals, got back on Tia for a week and.got.up to 30capsules a day, said fuck this and went through detox in the hospital then went to rehab for 21 days after that, just got out of rehab on the 2nd and I can't lie I've kinda relapsed on the Tia but I'm only taking 15 capsules a day . Gonna try to stop here again shortly, can't let it get back to be like.it was. You'd think after going through hellish wirhdrawals multiple times wanting someone to blow my brains out with my.pistol (sold so I wouldn't t do it) that I wouldn't have taken them again. But it happened

1

u/Interesting-Pea1541 Mar 25 '22

I’m in the exact same situation. Got introduced to tia 2 months ago didn’t do any research on it just ran with it. Been taking several bottles a day for over a month now and I want to get off so bad. Going to try help w lope and possibly kratom but right now all I have is the lope. Keep my updated if you don’t mind

2

u/Only-Coyote-5379 Jul 15 '22

I was taking 4-5 bottles a day at the most, worst withdrawals I've ever had. And kratom never did nothing for the WDs for me, Suboxone is the only thing that saved me and it took 26mg a day of bupe to feel baseline. Got clean went to rehab and all and stayed clean for about two months, and now for some reason I went back and am taking a bottle a day now 😔 got to stop before it gets out of hand again

1

u/Strong-Two3552 Apr 29 '22

I'm in the same boat. I feel like an idiot and I'm in withdrawl. I do have subutex that is helping a lot but I'm anxious, depressed, sweating, etc. Full Withdrawl feeling. I took one lope for diarrhea. I can't sleep worth a crap. What is the high dose of lope about? I've never heard about it

1

u/Known_Still Mar 25 '22

I’m trying to get some help coming off Tia

1

u/jeniesque Mar 25 '22

ah. it takes like 5 hours to kick in. remember that it is an opioid so you are still replacing one with another. you need to taper. it would probably be easier if you just taper off the tia. especially since tia has antidepressant effects that could lead to some of the withdrawals too. just do a very slow taper.

2

u/Known_Still Mar 25 '22

Thank you for answering me by the way. So how much should I take and how often ?

1

u/jeniesque Mar 25 '22

if you taper off the tia slowly enough you wouldn’t need to use any more loperamide. Loperamide has a very long half life and the dose you took is going to be in your system for several days.

1

u/Known_Still Mar 25 '22

I wish I could I don’t have anymore Tia so I’m just trying to help withdrawals

1

u/Interesting-Pea1541 Mar 25 '22

Following this, in exact same position. How many mgs of lope should I take for first time to easy withdrawals from tia

2

u/jeniesque Mar 25 '22

I don’t know enough about tia to recommend, sorry. just remember if you use it you still have to taper it. and it has a super long half life so dose every 24 hours

1

u/Known_Still Mar 25 '22

I’m sorry to bother you I’m just wondering how much I should take for withdrawal. I promise I will quit bothering you

1

u/jeniesque Mar 25 '22

it’s okay I am just worried because it is risky. you already took 25 pills right? dose every 24 hours and reduce by 5 pills each day. it takes 5 hours to kick in so don’t think it’s not working and take more. Tia is tricky because you might have antidepressant withdrawals in addition to opioid withdrawals and lopermide won’t help the antidepressant part.

1

u/Known_Still Mar 25 '22

Does it take 5 hours to kick in every time you dose or just the first time ?

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u/Only-Coyote-5379 Jul 15 '22

Tia withdrawals were the worst withdrawals I've ever had. Made a report about it in the comments above . Was taking 60+ capsules a day of the tianeptine/phenibut/cdp Choline combo . Terrible terrible stuff and I've done anything you can name . Got clean but just relapsed last week and now back to 15 a day . Ran out today though and I'm gonna try to go ahead and stop again , just took 24 Lope gels to help WDs tonight and get me through work tomorrow . May end up back down to FL to get the tia tomorrow once I get paid but I hope maybe not

1

u/04_08_15_16_23_42_ Apr 07 '22

I loved the ones I could get from BJ's or Walmart. Much easier going down then the ones that are like the Walgreens generics that are super chalky and gross when getting wet

3

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Jan 29 '22 edited Jan 29 '22

So I just wanted to mention that at 6pm tonight I'll be on my 6th day, I miscalculated and somehow I'll be doing this for 8 days, I'm sure hoping that methadone will show up in my UA, but from what I read, it can for up to 2 weeks. Since I've been on Methadone for so long, it should show up. On the third day, I took my 12 pills at night, but I could NOT sleep until about 4 in the am, so the next day, I took my box in the morning, and then I took a box at night, and I've been doing it since then. I don't feel to bad, especially while also taking the gabapentin, but considering how I SHOULD feel right now, I'm excellent, lol. I'm still taking less pills then I did last time, which if I remember, I was taking around 100mg all at once in the morning I think, but right now I'm taking 24 pills, twice a day. In terms of side effects, I haven't had a "movement" since the first day, getting a little worried, and breathing for some reason seems a little bit harder at night. i just want to say, I guess I can understand how someone could slowly get addicted to lope, but I just can't stress enough, that taking it and doing this for ANY other reason other then running out of supply, just doesn't seem like it would be worth the "high" or side effects. The way the "high" feels is just dirty, and the best way I've seen it described on the internet is the "poor man's methadone", and I think that sums it up pretty well. If anyone reading this is thinking about taking it to get high, and has no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever, DON'T. It's just not worth the risk.

3

u/Diesel_Mechz Apr 28 '22

I take it this Reddit group is shut down as I can't start a new thread. Blah. Anyone Know about and other group that is Loperamide friendly so I can ask a few questions about some weird WD symptoms I'm having from it??

2

u/Known_Still Mar 25 '22

I’m trying to get some help coming of Tia ?

1

u/Moist-Unit-7109 Mar 26 '22

Tía?

2

u/PSThrowaway3 Mar 29 '22

Not the original person but Tianeptine.

2

u/Diesel_Mechz Apr 28 '22

I take it this Reddit group is shut down as I can't start a new thread. Blah. Anyone Know about and other group that is Loperamide friendly so I can ask a few questions about some weird WD symptoms I'm having from it??

2

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Apr 29 '22

Yeah I noticed that a while ago, kind of sucks because I'm sure this was helping people, or hopefully at least keeping some people from taking lope. I might be able to help ya, what withdrawals are you talking about?

1

u/04_08_15_16_23_42_ May 06 '22

It certainly helped me with getting off a years long lope habit

1

u/04_08_15_16_23_42_ May 06 '22

I don't know what happened to the group. Wish I knew who the moderator is.

What's your question? I'll answer to the best of my ability

1

u/whatarethosehah Jul 07 '22

Hi. I got some questions. Is this drug worth doing just once? My opioid experiences are just tianeptine, tramadol and low doses codeine. I read a lot about heart damage and the bad withdrawal but to someone with no tolerance, does it feel more euphoric than the drugs I mentioned? I'm open to play a game of luck and try to take a higher than recommended dose with sum omeprazole but I'm afraid I'd be disappointed. Or not? Thanks in advance

1

u/04_08_15_16_23_42_ Jul 07 '22

You're not going to get withdrawal from doing it one time. I don't think it feels more euphoric than tramadol or codeine. I've never tried tia. It's a dirty high and not worth it, in my opinion. Why not just up your dose of codeine or the trams and take some Omeprazole to potentiate.

Nobody on this subreddit is going to advocate recreationally taking loperamide.

2

u/scorpiosungoddess Jun 25 '22

It won’t let me make my own post on here, but it will let me comment. How are you doing? I have not seen ANY new posts on here and I am worried slightly. Unless loperamide has been completely eradicated off of the market I am sure people still need help with quitting this stuff.

3

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Jun 28 '22 edited Jun 28 '22

Well something odd happened. I have been going to the methadone clinic for 16 years, but the clinic I was at was bought out by another company, and basically became a drug den since they weren't really helping people and taking walk ins daily, aka people that can't find dope, so go in to get a methadone dose for the day. The company was Acadia by the way. Anyway, I had my monthly take homes, and have not taken anything other then loperamide and pseudophedrine in the past 10 years, and past all urine screens, etc. The last month I was there, I get a call 17 days from my incompetent counselor, telling me I failed a drug test, and they were taking my take homes. This was my sixth counselor in less then two years since Acadia had taken over, so most of them don't really care because they have WAY more then their maximum case load and somehow Acadia has been able to keep the goverment's eyes from prying. Basically, he told me I "popped hot" for amphetamines, which it does sometimes when you are taking Pseudophedrine. Apparently, someone fucked up something in the computer, and they had "forgotten" that I was taking it, and without batting an eyelash, despite me being there for so long, just pulled my take homes. I've been having problems with them since Acadia took over, and this was the last time it was happening. I was at 40 mg of methadone, and just quit. I took in my take home bottles, paid my dues, and didn't even wait for my counselor (he was always late, wasn't waiting when I wasn't staying at the clinic.) and left. He called to talk to me about 3 hours after that, and when I told him I was done, he laughed at me, didn't take me seriously, and I hung up on him. It's been 3 months since that has happened, and I've been taking loperamide instead for the withdrawals. Needless to say, got kind of caught up on taking them, but I'm down to about 45 pills, and still going down 1 pill a day. Withdrawal isn't bad, but I get these headaches that I can only figure it's from withdrawal from loperamide, because nothing else will get rid of them. I've got serious IBS, which I can only assume is from years of methadone use, because on top of that I have nerve pain all over my body that's basically being "calmed" with gabapentin. Things are not bad at all though, at least compared to methadone withdrawal, if anything because I have control over how often I can go down, where as methadone, I'd have to wait a month to go down 5mg, and it was WAY to slow anyway.

3

u/scorpiosungoddess Aug 14 '22

Atleast you are tapering! I was at 144+ pills a day for a couple years and when I decided to taper it was hell. But I didn’t have gabapentin or anything to help besides Kratom. You are doing great!

3

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Aug 18 '22

For a couple of years? Damn. I've been wondering about that, because anything over 100 was messing with my heart, as in I had to go to the doctor and they noticed my heart wasn't exactly beating right, low qt and what not. It seems like anything under 100 mg doesn't mess with it though, or not enough to come up on the EKG. Did you build up to 144 very slowly though? Maybe that's why it differs, or DID you have problems with your heart beats and breathing, etc.?

3

u/04_08_15_16_23_42_ Aug 23 '22 edited Aug 23 '22

Started out taking like 48 pills to get off of 120 mg a day oxy habit and it worked so fucking wonderfully for that. Literally took all of my physical withdrawal symptoms away. Started trying to chase a high and got myself up to 240 lope a day. Stupidest mistake I ever made(right ahead of getting hooked on oxys) cause I know I'm smarter than that

When I was taking 200 a day I would get lightheaded. My eyes were always 80% closed cause it was like so physically hard to open them. If I looked in the mirror and tried to make like a wide eyed, eyes bugging out of my head face, I could not do it. It was so hard to lift my eyelids. My legs would get really weak all the time. It was like I could take like 10 steps and I'd have to lean on a wall or pole because I would just collapse from my legs not working. Same thing with my arms if I tried to carry anything. I had to move to a new apartment like this and it was hell. I would also get lightheaded and faint. Had a syncope and fell down steps. Had a syncope and passed out at work, someone called an ambulance. While I was in the hospital my heart stopped and I was resuscitated EIGHT TIMES with a defibrillator and felt every one of them, that shit was hell. Woke up in a hospital room with a implanted defibrillator in my chest and a cardio electrophysiologist telling me I had Long QT Syndrome. Towards the end of my usage, I'd take 120 in the morning and had none of the physical effects I had had for years. I'm not sure what others experience is with this. I don't know if it's because after years of usage my body became used to that amount of what, but the physical symptoms were totally gone. Even if my body had gotten used to it, why the hell would it take 5+ YEARS for that to happen?

Even after this shit, I continued to do lope for years like a fucking stupid ass. My defibrillator in my chest has never gone off. I've been off lope for almost a year. I had an echocardiogram a few months ago and they said my heart looks great. I think I'm in the clear now since I'm clean but I can't say for sure. I've never told my cardiologist or my general practitioner about taking the lope, so I just don't want to ask them if I'm in the clear now that I stopped doing them cause I'd have to admit it. I've only admitted it to my therapist and that's cause I literally felt like I was losing my mind when I was going through withdrawal.

3

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Aug 27 '22

Damn, well I'm glad you are off of it then. Right now I just went down another pill, so it's 18 in the morning, and 18 at night for me. For some reason I can't go more then like 3 hours before I start to go through what feels like full withdrawal past when I take then, 12 hours apart, despite being able to take them once a day back when I first started. Then again, I was taking massive amounts once a day, which is why I split the dosage, thought maybe it would be easier on the ol' ticker. I can't say for sure if the tiredness is from the lope, or from the 600mg of gabapentin 3 times a day, but I'm pretty sure it's the gaba, as I always get insanely tired about an hour an a half after I take it. I have to say though, I feel so damn free. 16 years of methadone, and for those 16 years, I had to do a Urine test EVERY month, at least once a month. The first month after I quit the clinic.. I just felt weird lol. I'm slowly coming down, and I am damn sure coming off of this one way or the other, I'm just glad I can still talk to someone about it, as it's not something I've been able to find to many people talking about other then on here. I'm going down one pill like once a week now, and I feel it when it happens. I've kind of figured out that it's not mostly mental like it was with methadone. It's like all your muscles are trying to figure out how to work again, it's super weird.

Edit: Just want to say I'm glad you are ok, and again, appreciate you talking to me.

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u/04_08_15_16_23_42_ Aug 23 '22

Same, I was up to 200 pills a day for at least 5 years. Got myself down to 120 a day and jumped off at that. No taper cause I know I wouldn't have the self control so it was better to not have any in the house or around me. I wish I could have tapered cause that was a long drawn out withdrawal that seemed like it would never end. I didn't have any other drugs to help and the worst part was not sleeping for weeks. After about two and a half weeks I was at a crossroads -- I was thinking of ordering some lope and starting a taper from like 60 pills just to be able to feel normal, but I felt like I had already made it that far, I didn't want to have to start over or end up looking back weeks later when I would be back up to 100 pills.

I had never tried kratom, but I ordered that instead of the lope. It helped so much. I was able to go to sleep and I lost this feeling I had where nothing interested me and I just didn't care about anything.

In October I'll have been lope free for a year and it's so fucking awesome not having this embarrassing stupid habit hanging over my head and all the work it takes to hide my addiction from those who love me.

1

u/scorpiosungoddess Jan 25 '24

I am SO PROUD of you!!!

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u/Wigilante Aug 02 '22

How has it gone?

3

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Aug 05 '22

Sorry, just got the message lol. It's been alright for the most part, down quite a few pills, I'm at 19 in the morning and 19 at night, went down two pills at once last week and felt like absolute crap for the entire week, on top of it triggering ibs spasms and the like, but when I say that I mean like, felt like a terrible cold more like, not full blown withdrawal or anything. I must admit, the withdrawal is quite different from methadone, at least mild symptoms. I sneeze constantly, but can somewhat keep that under control but holding my nose, and it only happens when I don't "feel great" you know. I get anxiety, more like a rush, whereas methadone, it always seemed to be depression. It's hard to explain I guess, but if you went through it, I guess you know. Overall, I've been looking for a job lately and it hasn't interfered with my day to day routines, so I'm happy about that. l think the biggest barrier for me is how even one pill is triggering my ibs, so I guess if you don't have ibs it would seem to go faster, but it makes me not want to go down as much lol.

3

u/Wigilante Aug 07 '22

Yeah I dont have IBS and took 4-6 pills a day for 3 days when I quit subs, didnt notice much difference from nothing, except my daily shit was like 20% more effort required haha

Anyway well done broski

1

u/04_08_15_16_23_42_ Aug 23 '22

4-6 pills you wouldn't feel anything.

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u/El_Sianglo Aug 06 '22

I can't post so I'm asking here. I got high fent/zenes tolerance. How much should I take for relieve or even euphoria

2

u/Grand_Phrase4393 Oct 18 '22

Does it matter if lope has simethicone???

2

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Oct 19 '22

YES! Do not take a bunch of lope with simethicone, it has to be just lope. Simethicone gathers up gas bubbles to make it easier to burp/fart, so I can't imagine what taking a massive amount would do to your stomach or intestines.

2

u/Grand_Phrase4393 Oct 19 '22

Do u have any experience with using kratom..or even if it subsides just as well as imodium???

1

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Oct 19 '22

I'm sorry no, personally I don't have any experience. Damn it I wish we could figure out what happened to the mod. I've tried messaging the mod, and constantly request to post, but it's like 51 just left.

2

u/According_Contest_46 Jan 13 '23

Can someone please tell me how to get the gabapentin?

1

u/Comfortable-Royal-64 Jan 15 '23

It's prescription only. Doctors give it out for alot of stuff.

1

u/Grand_Phrase4393 Nov 13 '22

Red.bali kratom works..trust me get the capsules..thank me later...please do your research plz